Investigation of a beam in bending

1

Gemma Rutter

CEGE, UCL

Investigation of a beam in bending

Gemma Rutter1

1CEGE department, UCL, London

1. INTRODUCTION

Beams are one of the most essential components of man made structures and conducting experiments to observe how a beam behaves under loading is crucial to understanding its key aspects. For example, aspects that could be explored are the threshold stress and strain above which a beam begins to behave in an unsafe and unpredictable manner. If extensive tests are carried out on a beam of a particular specimen then its behavioral patterns can be determined to a greater degree of accuracy i.e. its thresholds can be calculated to a greater degree of accuracy. Using these patterns, buildings can be made safer as the values for the maximum stress and strain of the beam are more reliable. Knowledge of the properties of the beam can also be used to minimize redundancy, thus making buildings more efficient.

This experiment investigates several aspects of how a beam behaves under a force and focuses on calculating the stresses and strains the beam experiences when an increasing load is applied to the length of the structure. In this investigation, the deflection of the beam at each load interval is also calculated. The report is arranged as follows: method – set